§ Mr. Denis MurphyTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by her Department and agencies for which her Department is responsible in each of the last five years to promote(a) Northumberland and (b) the north-east as a tourist destination. [126450]
§ Mr. CabornThe British Tourist Authority (BTA) was responsible for marketing Britain overseas as a tourist destination over the last five years. It did not allocate funds for individual regions (or sub-regions) of Britain, but promoted Britain as a whole in a way which maximised the impact of its campaigns in individual markets overseas. DCMS allocated the following amounts to the BTA in the last five years:
Grant (£ million) 1998–99 35 1999–2000 36 2000–01 37 2001–02 35.5 2002–03 35.5 In addition, £14.2 million was awarded in 2001–02. A further £20 million was allocated from the Reserve in 2002–03 to help tourism recover from the impact of the foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak and the 11 September attacks and to drive forward a strategy.
In 2001–02, DCM S allocated to the English Tourism Council (ETC) £3.8 million from the Reserve to assist the domestic recovery of tourism following FMD; over half that amount was passed to the 10 Regional Tourist Boards in England, including the Northumbria Tourist Board, whose activities cover Northumberland and the north-east, and much of it was used for promotional activities. Other central Government funding provided to the Northumbria Tourist Board in those years via the ETC was for the delivery of the national tourism strategy at regional level, and did not include money for marketing.